INDIAN WELLS,
Calif.-In remarks before the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Geothermal Resources
Council today in Indian Wells, Calif., Rebecca Watson, Assistant Secretary
of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management shared the Bush Administration's
commitment to developing geothermal and other renewable energy sources.

"The President's National
Energy Policy includes not only enhancing supplies of renewable and
nonrenewable energy, but also places an important focus on conservation,"
Watson said. "Geothermal energy is a proven example. That is why
Interior is placing such a priority on the
development of geothermal energy on public lands."

Watson reminded the group
that the Interior Department manages 1 in every 5 acres of public lands
in this country and has long been a leader in support of the development
and use of renewable energy resources, including geothermal.

Watson explained that "The
President has given geothermal energy production a tremendous jumpstart
since he took office. His National Energy Policy urged us to reduce
geothermal lease backlogs and examine opportunities for increased geothermal
development on public lands, which we are doing," she said. "In
the past 3 ½ years, this administration has issued more than
200 geothermal leases, compared to fewer than 20 issued in the last
four years of the prior administration."

Watson noted that Interior
Secretary Gale Norton hosted two renewable energy conferences in 2001
and 2002 respectively, resulting in the White House Renewable Energy
Report. In 2003, Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the
Department of Energy co-published a report identifying the best places
on federal land for wind, geothermal, solar and biomass energy development.
Shortly thereafter, the two agencies issued a report focusing on the
top 35 places with the potential for geothermal energy production

Watson said public lands
managed by the Interior Department have a significant role to play in
the development of domestic geothermal energy and other renewable energy
resources. More than 260 million acres of land, primarily in the West,
are managed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management.
BLM lands are managed for multiple uses, including energy development.

"We are also committed
to developing wind energy. The BLM is preparing to issue a nationwide
environmental impact statement on wind energy that will help the Bureau
speed up its processing of permits," Watson said. "During
the past four years, we have issued 46 permits for wind. During the
entire eights years of the last administration, they issued only 12--little
more than one per year."

"We realize that even
'green' energy has environmental impacts. As part of the leasing process,
we put every proposed geothermal project through legally-required environmental
and cultural analyses before issuing an energy lease or power plant
license," Watson said.

Currently, lands managed
by the Department of Interior provide more than 48 percent of the United
States geothermal power. BLM has entered into more than 400 geothermal
leases on the lands it manages. Fifty-five of those leases are capable
of producing a total of 1,275 megawatts of electricity, enough to power
more than 1.2 million homes. Thirty-four geothermal power plants are
currently producing electricity on BLM lands in three states.

Watson added, "We have
also proposed legislation that would give the Minerals Management Service
authority to license the development of wind power in the Outer Continental
Shelf. This is a keystone to harnessing the clean energy potential of
offshore wind." That legislation was included in the House and
Senate energy bills, which still await enactment.

Lands managed by the Interior
Department produce about 30 percent of the nation's energy supply. Approximately
one-third of the country's natural gas, coal and oil, and one-half of
geothermal, 17 percent of hydropower, and 20 percent of wind power are
produced in areas managed by Interior.

The Interior Department is
committed to implementing President Bush's long-term strategy to produce
traditional sources of energy on federal land in an environmentally
responsible way, and to increasing renewable energy production on federal
land, involving all interested persons in a careful and open process
to meet the nation's energy needs while protecting sensitive resources
for future generations.

Assistant Secretary Watson
is responsible for providing policy, priorities and oversight to the
Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, and Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. These three bureaus have
responsibility for the production of about 30 percent of our domestic
oil, natural gas and coal used to heat and cool our homes, fuel our
cars and trucks, and power our high-tech economy. The Bureau of Land
Management also manages about one-eighth of the land in the United States
for a wide variety of uses benefiting the public including recreation,
grazing, timber production, mining, wilderness, energy development and
wildlife habitat.